Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/110

 The consecration was in consequence postponed, but Roger nevertheless resigned the chancellorship, in accordance with the usual practice, soon after his investiture as bishop. He may possibly have resumed his office as chancellor in 1106, but, if so, again resigned, when he was at last consecrated in the following year. The contest between the king and archbishop on the question of investitures was formally settled in August 1107, and on 11 Aug. Roger and a number of other bishops were consecrated by Anselm at Canterbury (ib. p. 117;, p. 187).

Shortly afterwards Roger was raised to the office of justiciar. William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, ii. 483) speaks of him as having the governance of the whole kingdom, whether Henry was in England or in Normandy. But it is uncertain whether he really acted as the king's lieutenant in his absence, or even whether the name of justiciar yet ‘possessed a precise official significance’. He is, however, the first justiciar to be called ‘secundus a rege’ ( p. 245). Roger was one of the messengers sent by the king to Anselm in 1108 to induce him to consecrate the abbot of St. Augustine's in his own abbey, and was present in the Whitsuntide court of that year at London, when he joined with other bishops in supporting Anselm's contention as to the consecration of the archbishop-elect of York (, pp. 189, 208). Roger was responsible for the peaceful administration of England during the king's long absences in Normandy. On 27 June 1115 he was at Canterbury for the consecration of Theodoald as bishop of Worcester, and on 19 Sept. for that of Bernard of St. Davids at Westminster (ib. pp. 230, 236). In 1121 he claimed to officiate at the king's marriage with Adela of Louvain, on the ground that Windsor was within his diocese; but Archbishop Ralph d'Escures [q. v.] resisted, and entrusted the duty to the bishop of Winchester (ib. p. 292; Gesta Pontificum, p. 132, n. 3). Roger was in the king's company when Robert Bloet [q. v.] died in their presence at Woodstock, January 1123. Robert and Roger had arranged to prevent the election of a monk to the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury, and through Roger's influence William of Corbeuil was elected in the following February, and Roger took part in his consecration at Canterbury on 18 Feb. (English Chronicle, 1123). At Christmas 1124 Roger summoned all the coiners of England to Winchester, and had the coiners of base money punished (ib. 1125). In 1126 Robert, duke of Normandy [q. v.], was removed from Roger's custody (ib. 1126). At Christmas Henry held his court at Windsor, and made all the chief men of the country swear allegiance to his daughter Matilda. Roger was foremost in recommending this oath ( p. 256), but he was afterwards first to break it. William of Malmesbury relates that he often heard Roger declare that he took the oath only on the understanding that Henry would not marry Matilda except with his advice and that of his nobles, and that therefore he was absolved when Matilda married Geoffrey of Anjou without their consent (Hist. Nov. p. 530). Roger was present at the consecration of Christ church, Canterbury, on 4 May 1130.

When, after the death of King Henry on 1 Dec. 1135, Stephen of Blois came over to secure the crown, Roger took his side with little hesitation. His adhesion secured the new king the command of the royal treasure and the administration, and thus contributed chiefly to Stephen's success. He attended Stephen's coronation, and after Christmas went with the king to Reading. At Easter 1136 he was with the king at Westminster, and he witnessed the charter issued at Oxford in April (, Geoffrey de Mandeville, ii. 262–3; Select Charters, p. 121). Stephen naturally retained him as justiciar. His influence was all-powerful, and Stephen declared he would give him half England if he asked for it; ‘he will be tired of asking before I am of giving.’ When Stephen proposed to cross over to Normandy, he intended to leave the government of England in Roger's hands during his absence. But a false report that Roger was dead recalled Stephen to Salisbury, and the expedition was postponed to the spring of 1137 ( v. 63). The whole administration of the kingdom was under Roger's control; his son Roger (see below) was chancellor, his nephew Nigel (d. 1169) [q. v.] was bishop of Ely and treasurer, and a second nephew, Alexander (d. 1148) [q. v.], was bishop of Lincoln. The three bishops used their resources in fortifying the castles in their dioceses. Roger's intention may have been to keep the balance of power in his own hands. His power and wealth excited the enmity of the barons in Stephen's party ( Hist. Nov. p. 548), or, as another writer alleges, made the king suspicious of his fidelity ( v. 119). According to the author of the ‘Gesta Stephani’ (p. 47), Count Waleran of Meulan was Roger's chief accuser. Ordericus relates that Waleran, Earl Robert of Leicester, and Alan de Dinan stirred up the king. Stephen summoned Roger and his nephews to come to him at Oxford on 24 June 1139. Roger,